Vertebroplasty is a medical procedure in which acrylic bone cement such as Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) is percutaneously injected into a fractured vertebra to stabilize the vertebra. An osteoporotic fracture can cause extreme back pain along with other symptoms, such as decreased height and spinal deformity or a hunchback appearance. The main goal of vertebroplasty is to reduce pain caused by the fracture by stabilizing the bone.
The procedure, which typically involves the minimally invasive delivery of bone cement, such as PMMA, is typically used for a spine fracture caused by osteoporosis, a disease that causes weakening of the bones and can lead to fractures in the vertebral bodies. The procedure may offer early relief to older patients suffering osteoporotic compression fractures and refractory pain. Vertebroplasty may also be used to treat steroid-induced osteoporotic compression fractures, vertebral body hemangiomas and metastatic disease of the spine. If left untreated, fractures will continue to cause pain. Posterior displacement of the vertebral body can occur, which can cause pressure on nerves of the spinal cord and can lead to neurological deficit.
Vertebroplasty stabilizes or hardens the fracture, thus reducing the pain. In particular, increasing the rigidity and strength of the bone through the injection and subsequent hardening of PMMA cement reduces bone deformation and painful micro-motion at the fracture site. This is the consolidation effect.
Most patients experience pain relief within hours and are able to resume their daily activities within 48 hours. These procedures can even be performed with local anesthetic only for patients with severe lung disease who cannot tolerate sedatives well.
A problem may arise with vertebroplasty however, in that PMMA by-products may be sucked into blood and carried through micro veins in the cancellous bone to other regions of the body, which can cause inadvertent negative results, such as an embolism in the lungs (obstruction of one of the pulmonary arteries by an embolus).